With just eight days to go before the start of the 2008 European Championships in Austria and Switzerland, there were eight Werder players involved for five different nations. On the final weekend before Saturday’s (07.06.2008) opener between Switzerland and the Czech Republic, there was a round of friendly internationals to help prepare for the tournament.
With just over a week to go before Germany open their campaign against Poland, Bremen’s Tim Borowski, Clemens Fritz, Per Mertesacker and Torsten Frings enjoyed a 2:1 win over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen. In further European friendlies with Werder Bremen participation, Hugo Almeida was in the Portugal squad which beat Georgia 2:0 whilst Ivan Klasnic was involved in Croatia’s 1:1 draw with Hungary.
On Friday evening, tournament co-hosts Austria clashed with Malta. The Austrian’s ran out 5:1 winners and Werder Bremen’s Martin Harnik was introduced in the second half and made his mark, on a very one sided match, with a goal in the 90th minute. On Sunday, Markus Rosenberg is expected to make an appearance for Sweden when they take on Ukraine.
Far afield from the European friendly games, Diego and his Brazilian team mates took on Canada in a friendly international on Saturday night. The Brazilians finished 3:2 winners in an entertaining game.
There was one Green-White whose international challenge at the weekend is to gather points. Boubacar Sanogo will go on the search for goals with the Ivory Coast as they attempt to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. On Sunday afternoon ‘The Elephants’ will play host to Mozambique. The round of games with Werder involvement will be completed on Monday, 02.06.2008, when Finland, who have included Petri Pasanen in their squad, take on Belarus.